PSA: Do not fast an overweight reptile to help them lose weight

unsuspectingfish:

tobytheundying:

the-awkward-turt:

1) It probably won’t work very well, because drastically cutting off food will likely cause them to just slow their metabolism to compensate.

2) Fasting an overweight animal can actually make them more likely to develop fatty liver disease. When it goes without food for a long time the body starts sending fat to the liver to be converted into energy. The liver can’t handle all the influx of fat and so stores it in liver cells, eventually leading to fatty liver disease.

What should you do instead? Feed them as often as you usually would (assuming you were feeding them on a species-appropriate schedule) to keep their metabolism up, but make the meals smaller.

While I’m reblogging this: please don’t ever fast a cat unless you are following a vet’s instructions (such as if they’ve told you to fast your cat for a short period before surgery). AFAIK, cats can straight-up die of acute fatty liver disease from not eating enough. It’s important that your cat is a healthy weight, but fasting them or feeding them extremely minimal amounts of food is not the way to go about it.

If your cat is not eating, take them to the vet ASAP.

You are absolutely correct about cats, and it develops within days, which is why:

1. even a day of not eating is worth consulting a vet over.
2. you should never switch your cat’s food completely without some sort of trial/weaning period, because trying to force them to eat a new food could literally kill them. 
3. you should always keep highly desirable food or treats at the handy, both in case your cat gets stressed by something and doesn’t have any interest in their regular food and to help you figure out if they’re actually not eating because they’re ill or if they are, in fact, simply stressed out.
4. like, seriously, never try to force your cat to eat a food that they don’t like; that’s why they sell trial sizes of a lot of the higher-end dry foods.
5. if they really need to lose weight, you should follow the same rules listed above for an overweight reptile.